Toxic
From: (name withheld)
Subject: Toxic
Date: December 14, 2021 at 3:45:55 PM MST
Mr. Weinstein, I often wonder what occurs, or had occurred, in a person’s life that results in a seemingly self-serving, toxic and divisive character. This is more of a rhetorical question, otherwise, you may mis-interpret my inquiry as one of personal interest. Despite the many current and significant issues challenging and dividing our society, you and your like-minded followers seem to delight in micro aggressions similar to the Christmas wreath debacle. Can we just accept this gesture as a commemorative to individuals whose personal sacrifice benefited the greater good thus earning an acknowledgement of remembrance. Your godless badge of dissent, and that of others like you, have become a tedious bore. In my lifetime, and consistent with my profession, I have encountered similar malcontents whose attention seeking ego is in stark conflict with their insecurities. It might make a difference for you to be self aware.
(name withheld)
Response from MRFF Advisory Board Member James Currie
Dear (name withheld),
I have been asked by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation to respond to your recent email. It’s obvious from your statements that you have never actually researched the work of the MRFF. If you had done so, you would have discovered that for many years it has had only one mission: to protect and defend the religious freedoms of all those who serve our country in uniform. There are many wonderful organizations that feed the homeless, take care of animals, provide medical care for those in need. For almost every human need there is a charitable organization that seeks to address that need. What MRFF does is nearly unique: it supports and defends the Constitution of the United States, with a primary focus on the first sentence of the First Amendment to the Constitution.
In case you have forgotten the exact words of that amendment, here it is: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Pretty simple and straightforward, huh? It means that governments at any level in the United States cannot involve themselves in religion. It means that we cannot have a state church or religion. It means that government cannot favor one religion over another. President Thomas Jefferson, who knew the men who drafted this amendment and guided it through the First Congress, wrote the following about that amendment in a letter to the Baptists of Danbury, Conn., in January 1802:
“I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people [that is, the First Amendment] which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.”
Please note, (name withheld), that Jefferson refers to our country’s “wall of separation” between church and state. It is that wall of separation that the MRFF honors and supports. The founder of the MRFF was an Air Force officer who took an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Many of us who work on behalf of MRFF took that same oath as commissioned officers in one of the several branches of our military services. We hold that oath to be sacred, and we have not abandoned it simply because we have completed our service or left the military.
You seem to have no problem with a group venturing into a VA cemetery and, with U.S. Government approval, placing a Christian symbol on the graves of all the veterans buried there. And please make no mistake about it, the Christmas wreath has been a world-recognized symbol of the Christian faith for more than 200 years. How would you feel if a Muslim group or a Hindu group were to do the same with their own religious symbols? What if they went into a VA cemetery, with U.S. Government permission, and decorated veterans’ graves with their own religious markers, regardless of the beliefs of the individuals buried there? Would that be okay? Of course it wouldn’t, and here’s the thing, (name withheld): the MRFF would object just as much to such non-Christian actors and their actions as it does when Christian symbols are placed on graves. Because here’s what you need to understand about MRFF: it is truly non-sectarian. It defends the rights of conscience and faith of all who serve in uniform. It strives every day to uphold the Constitution, and especially the First Amendment to the Constitution. That’s how aware the MRFF is, (name withheld), and I can only hope that you now understand it and its mission just a little more clearly.
Col. James T. Currie, USA (Ret.) Board of Advisors, Military Religious Freedom Foundation